Black List question - Nicholl placement

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  • Black List question - Nicholl placement

    If you are hosting a script on the Black List that has finished top 10% in the Nicholl Fellowship, is that even worth putting on the script info page? Or is that kinda like going to NFL tryouts and saying you got honorable mention all-league on your high school football team?

  • #2
    Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

    couldn't hurt. scores and logline are likely to be more important though

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    • #3
      Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

      I think it's worth it. It is the Nicholl after all, so that counts more than any other contest. And top 10% out of 7,000 or so entries is no small deal.

      That said, I would wait until after you get an evaluation (if you're buying one) to indicate this. Some people suspect that highlighting a contest placement might make BL readers more inclined to view your script with a more critical/skeptical eye. It can't actually be proven, but given how few people get 8s on the site, I wouldn't do anything to sabotage my chances.
      "I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.-- Peter De Vries

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      • #4
        Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

        It couldn't hurt.

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        • #5
          Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

          I forget is top 10% in Nicholl a semi-finalist? When I semi'ed I thought I was like top 150 out of 7000
          Write, rite, wright... until you get it RIGHT.

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          • #6
            Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

            Originally posted by asteven50 View Post
            I forget is top 10% in Nicholl a semi-finalist? When I semi'ed I thought I was like top 150 out of 7000
            Top 5 percent is QF.

            If you make the semis, you are in some rare air.

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            • #7
              Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

              Even in a prestigious contest like Nichol, there may be 25 decent scripts out of 7,000. To me, touting you made a cut in the Nichol that isn't the finals sounds desperate.

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              • #8
                Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

                Originally posted by Cyfress View Post
                Even in a prestigious contest like Nichol, there may be 25 decent scripts out of 7,000. To me, touting you made a cut in the Nichol that isn't the finals sounds desperate.
                This is the truth and producers all know it. I read for a fairly well known contest for the first time this year, invited by a person running it. And.... We couldn't find 10 scripts good enough to be finalists. Truth is we were lucky to find ONE. And though it was well written, and won, it was a script that in the real world would never get optioned or made. Unless you win Austin or make the semis (preferably the finals) in the The Nicholl... Nobody cares about contest placings.

                Good luck on the Blacklist. When it was first starting I got some 8s and 9s and optioned a script from there. Over three years, it got reoptioned once, never made, and I got it back. But I got a solid contact out of it and make some ok option money. So, it at least worked for me.

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                • #9
                  Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

                  Ed, did you feel that a lot of the scripts you read in the contest all failed in practically the same areas?

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                  • #10
                    Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

                    Originally posted by Cyfress View Post
                    Ed, did you feel that a lot of the scripts you read in the contest all failed in practically the same areas?
                    If you mean written extremely poorly with zero thought of whether there was an audience for the story they were telling with dialogue that sounds like nobody on earth and completely overwritten with unneeded description and a ton of unfilmables? Then yes.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

                      Originally posted by Cyfress View Post
                      To me, touting you made a cut in the Nichol that isn't the finals sounds desperate.

                      So you're saying making semis of the Nicholl is insignificant? That the mere mention of such placement makes one sound "desperate"?


                      Really.

                      Love to hear more.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

                        I understand it is a great accomplishment for the writer, but do you have any idea how many semi finalist scripts producers/agents/managers have read that were no where near the quality necessary to compete in the market? 99% of the semi finalist scripts end up in a landfill somewhere.

                        I made the top 100 of the Nichol a decade ago. Looking back, that script was riddled with problems from concept to character to structure, but it made the top 100 out of about 5,000 I think it was back then. You know what that says? 95% of the Nichol entries are a pure train wreck. You have quarterfinalist train wrecks and semi finalist train wrecks. I know cause I made the semis with a train wreck.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

                          Originally posted by Cyfress View Post
                          I understand it is a great accomplishment for the writer, but do you have any idea how many semi finalist scripts producers/agents/managers have read that were no where near the quality necessary to compete in the market? 99% of the semi finalist scripts end up in a landfill somewhere.

                          I made the top 100 of the Nichol a decade ago. Looking back, that script was riddled with problems from concept to character to structure, but it made the top 100 out of about 5,000 I think it was back then. You know what that says? 95% of the Nichol entries are a pure train wreck. You have quarterfinalist train wrecks and semi finalist train wrecks. I know cause I made the semis with a train wreck.
                          your relationship to writing and writers is clearly and consistently toxic. you should probably take a break from inflicting it on the rest of us here on the boards

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                          • #14
                            Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

                            It's just the reality, Joe. Why don't you ask producers/agents what they think of the Nichol QF abs SF scripts. Maybe if someone with credentials says it, you'll feel it's less toxic.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Black List question - Nicholl placement

                              Originally posted by Cyfress View Post
                              Why don't you ask producers/agents what they think of the Nichol QF abs SF scripts. Maybe if someone with credentials says it, you'll feel it's less toxic.

                              I have heard many producers/agents/managers suggest through a variety of sources that high placement --certainly SF represents high placement -- in certain contests -- Nicholl being the preeminent contest, bar none -- is, in fact, a noteworthy accomplishment.

                              (On a related note, maybe if someone with credentials says it [is not the case], I will quite possibly will feel it's less toxic.)

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